T&T’s Under-17 Soca Princesses, buoyed by their 8-0 thrashing of Guyana in their Caribbean Football Union U-17 Women’s Final Round Championship qualifier on Tuesday will go after a second win from as many matches this afternoon against Bahamas.
The Stephan De Four-coached Soca Princesses who have now scored 54 goals in five qualification matches without conceding meet Bahamas at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex, Kingston, from 3 pm (4 pm T&T time).
In today’s other match, from 6 pm (7 pm T&T time), host Jamaica, coming off a 2-0 win over Bahamas in Tuesday’s late match faces Guyana. Victories today for T&T and Jamaica, will confirm their participation in the Concacaf Under-17 Women’s Championship where hosts Guatemala, Canada, Mexico and USA await.
The CFU third place finishers and the winner of the Costa Rica and Panama Central American qualifier will complete the eight-team line-up.
The Under-17 Concacaf finalists and third-place match winner will qualify for the 2012 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in Azerbaijan.
Reflecting on Tuesday’s which featured a beaver-trick from 2010 Under-17 Women’s World Cup striker, Canada-based Diarra Simmons and one each from captain, Anique Walker, Marlique Asson and twin-sisters, Khadisha Debesette and Khadidra Debesette, De Four the team stuck to the game plan very well.
“We wanted to put pressure on them (Guyana) from the first whistle and we did this and was able to score inside the first two minutes after which we continued to hustle every ball.” After we scored the opener, they never really recovered as we never gave them the chance to do so as we played a very aggressive match.
De Four also praised his players for sticking to their task even though the conditions were very humid. “The weather was very hot and humid and demanding on the girls but they managed to keep focus and the performance was very commendable,” De Four said.
Looking ahead to today’s match with Bahamas, De Four said he expected a competitive match. “We saw a bit of them against Jamaica and while they have some speedy players I don’t see it as anything for us to be afraid of.
“We are going to prepare for them tactically at our training session today (yesterday) and just knowing a win for us will cement our place in Guatemala is motivation for the girls. De Four also said his team’s goal was not just to qualify but to win the CFU tournament by taking one match at a time and send a statement to its future opponents.
Prior to their win over Guyana, the Soca Princesses advanced to the CFU final round after lop-sided victories over Dominica (13-0 and 5-0) and St Kitts/Nevis (11-0 and 17-0) in Group B qualification while Guyana blanked Anguilla 2-0 and drew with Netherlands Antilles 1-1 to top Group C.
Bahamas won Group A with wins over Bermuda (2-0) and Antigua & Barbuda (10-0); while Jamaica whipped Dominican Republic (3-0) and Aruba (9-0) in Group D.
Results (Tuesday)
T&T 8 (Diarra Simmons 9th, 42nd, 87th, 88th, Marlique Asson 2nd, Anique Walker 17th, Khadidra Debesette 47th, Khadisha Debesette 70th) vs Guyana 0
Jamaica 2 (Shantell Thompson 8th, Khadija Shaw 89th) vs Bahamas 0
Remaining fixture
Today
T&T vs Bahamas, 3 pm
Jamaica vs Guyana, 6 pm
Saturday
Bahamas vs Guyana, 3 pm
Jamaica vs T&T, 6 pm